Box Score

Duncan McAlpine's record-setting 46th career homerun came as part of a seventh inning surge for the Dallas Baptist Patriots (28-27, 13-13) on their way to a 12-5 win over Texas State (26-28, 15-11) on Saturday in San Marcos, Texas. Clinging to a two-run lead at the time, McAlpine drove a pitch from relief pitcher Covey Morrow over the rightcenter wall at Bobcat Ballpark to score Boomer Collins, who had singled, and pinch runner RJ Talamantes. That pushed the lead to five and three more runs in the eighth put the game out of reach as Drew Smith threw a career-high 3.2 innings in relief of starter Jake Johansen (6-6), who picked up the win in 5.1 innings.

The Patriots scored two in the first as Ronnie Mitchell opened the game with a clean single, one of three hits on the day for him, and Collins reached on an infield error. McAlpine pushed across his first two RBI, scoring both Mitchell and Collins with a single to left field. Texas State scored one off Johansen in the first after a leadoff walk but DBU increased their lead in the second with another run, thanks in part to another Bobcat error as Mike Wesolowski walked a moved to third on an error with KJ Alexander at the plate. Nash Knight plated Wesolowski from third with a sacrifice fly.

After two innings, however, the score was tied when the Bobcats scored two runs of their own after a leadoff single and walk opened the frame. The teams would trade zeroes until the sixth when DBU scored two on RBI from Chane Lynch and Wesolowski. But, as they had done in every inning that saw the Patriots score up to this point, Texas State answered with a run of their own to cut the lead to one headed to the seventh.

That's when singles from Mitchell, Collins, and Michael Miller opened the seventh inning in front of the big blast from McAlpine. For the first time in the series, the Bobcats did not answer in their half of the inning and DBU put the game out of reach in the eighth with three more hits, including RBI from KJ Alexander and Mitchell.

With the win, the Patriots now have a chance to win the series with the rubber match set for about a 12:15 pm start on Sunday. The game will be delayed for a couple minutes at the start as the Bobcats will celebrate Senior Day on the final day of the 2013 regular season. Fans can listen beginning at 11:45 am on dbupatriots.com/showcase.